How to Integrate PC Card And Hard Disk on PX Chasis

[Vikas23]

Hi

I am Curretly using NI PXIe Chasis 1078 where i have several NI cards like 4110, 8431/4,6363 etc and its connected to PC using PCI Bus.

On PC my labview developer license i available where i develop my LAbview VIs to communiate to my Flow computer device conneced to NI Chasis

But this setup limits my usage to specific PC only which has Labview license and connected to Chasis

I am looking for a solution where I can have some harddisk/PC cards installed on NI chasis which ca have Labview installation and I can connect my chasis to any PC via ethernet to run my prgrams and test my fow computer device conneced to Chasis

Can you recommend me some architecture for the same

Appreicate your response

BR

Vikas

[Chris-NI]

Hi Vikas23,

There are several ways to approach this.  I will outline a few for you and you can decide which way you believe will be best for your application.

In order to have LabVIEW installed on your PXI system, you would need to purchase an embedded controller (learn more).  This controller would include an ethernet port that you could connect to a network or directly to a PC.  With that, you could either [Option 1] use Remote Desktop to connect to the controller (most run Windows) and run your program, or you could [Option 2] write a client VI that simply gathers network data (such as Network-published Shared Variables) from the PXI host and posts it to a front panel.  The latter option would require more custom implementation if you wanted more functionality such as actually controlling your hardware.  Furthermore, in order to run a client VI on a PC without LabVIEW, you would need Application Builder, which allows you to create an exe from LabVIEW code.  A free download of our Run-Time-Engine would then allow you to launch your executable without a LabVIEW license.

Somewhat similar to loading an exe on a client machine and communicating with an embedded controller via ethernet, you could also [Option 3] simply create an exe of your LabVIEW code in your current setup and use that exe to communicate with your chassis over MXI as you are doing now.  There are two main caveats to this if you move to a new computer:

1. Make sure your Measurement & Automation Explorer is configured the same as your development computer (e.g. device aliases are identical, any tasks you created in Measurement & Automation Explorer are created identically, etc.)
2. All drivers should be identical to development machine, including a Run-Time Engine that matches your LabVIEW development environment

Here are a few additional resources to read up on regarding a host/client architecture, which is more in line with the first two options:

• Buffered Network-Published Shared Variables: Components and Architecture (relevant to Option 2)
• Wikipedia - Client-server model

In my opinion, Option 3 is the most cost-effective solution in your situation.  As long as you ensure that your Measurement & Automation Explorer configuration is identical and your software drivers and Run-Time Engine are correct, this will be a straight-forward approach.  In ascending order of cost (both purchase price and development time included), I would rank these Option 3, Option 1, Option 2.  In ascending order of complexity, I would rank these Option 1, Option 3, Option 2.  And finally, in descending order of flexibility and customizability, I would rank these Option 2, Option 1/3 tied.

Regards,